It’s Wrong to Steal…Even When the Government Does It Using Asset Forfeiture

As a grumpy libertarian, I routinely get agitated about taxes, spending, and regulation. As far as I’m concerned, much of government is a racket that uses coercion to reward interest groups with unearned wealth.

But there are degrees of evil. So if you asked me to pick the most reprehensible thing that government does, “asset forfeiture” might be in second place (hurting poor people to benefit rich people is at the top of my list).

Asset forfeiture occurs when government seizes property that is associated with a crime. That sounds reasonable – and it is reasonable if someone is convicted of, say, bank robbery and the government confiscates the stolen cash and any loot purchased with that money.

But it is not reasonable (or moral, or just, or appropriate) when government seizes assets without a conviction. And it is downright disgusting when the government steals (and I use that word deliberately) the assets of innocent parties.

New York businessman James Lieto was an innocent bystander in a fraud investigation last year. Federal agents seized $392,000 of his cash anyway. An armored-car firm hired by Mr. Lieto to carry money for his check-cashing company got ensnared in the FBI probe. Agents seized about $19 million—including Mr. Lieto’s money—from vaults belonging to the armored-car firm’s parent company. He is one among thousands of Americans in recent decades who have had a jarring introduction to the federal system of asset seizure. Some 400 federal statutes—a near-doubling, by one count, since the 1990s—empower the government to take assets from convicted criminals as well as people never charged with a crime. …The forfeiture system has opponents across the political spectrum, including representatives of groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union on the left and the Heritage Foundation on the right. They argue it represents a widening threat to innocent people. “We are paying assistant U.S. attorneys to carry out the theft of property from often the most defenseless citizens,” given that people sometimes have limited resources to fight a seizure after their assets are taken, says David Smith, a former Justice Department forfeiture official and now a forfeiture lawyer in Alexandria, Va.

What’s really amazing is that government officials want to expand this reprehensible practice. The use of “civil forfeiture” is particularly worrisome, as illustrated by this passage.

Top federal officials are also pushing for greater use of civil-forfeiture proceedings, in which assets can be taken without criminal charges being filed against the owner. In a civil forfeiture, the asset itself—not the owner of the asset—is technically the defendant. In such a case, the government must show by a preponderance of evidence that the property was connected to illegal activity. In a criminal forfeiture, the government must first win a conviction against an individual, where the burden of proof is higher.

Here’s a really disgusting example.

Raul Stio, a New Jersey businessman, is caught up in the civil-forfeiture world. Last October, the Internal Revenue Service, suspicious of Mr. Stio’s bank deposits, seized more than $157,000 from his account. Mr. Stio hasn’t been charged with a crime. In a court filing in his pending civil case, the Justice Department alleges that Mr. Stio’s deposits were structured to illegally avoid an anti-money-laundering rule that requires a cash transaction of more than $10,000 to be reported to federal authorities. Mr. Stio made 21 deposits over a four-month period, each $10,000 or less, the filing said. Steven L. Kessler, Mr. Stio’s attorney, says there was no attempt to evade the law and that the deposits merely reflected the amount of cash his client’s businesses, a security firm and bar, had produced. Mr. Stio was saving to buy a house, he says.

Our Founding Fathers gave us a presumption of innocence and no bureaucrat or politician should be allowed to cancel our constitutional rights.

Asset forfeiture should apply to people like Bernie Madoff. He’s been convicted of operating a Ponzi scheme, so by all means grab every penny he accumulated. But government should follow a simple rule: Convict first, seize second.

And here’s one final section from the story, highlighting how bureaucracies “earn” a profit by abusing forfeiture laws.

Part of the debate over seizures involves a potential conflict of interest: Under a 1984 federal law, state and local law-enforcement agencies that work with Uncle Sam on seizures get to keep up to 80% of the proceeds. Last year, under this “equitable-sharing” program, the federal government paid out more than $500 million, up about 75% from a decade ago. The payments give authorities an “improper profit incentive” to seize assets, says Scott Bullock of the Institute for Justice, a libertarian public-interest law firm in Arlington, Va. It’s a particular concern amid current state and local government budget problems, he contends. …Seeming abuses occasionally emerge. In 2008, federal Judge Joseph Bataillon ordered the return of $20,000 taken from a man during a traffic stop in Douglas County, Neb. Judge Battaillon quoted from a recording of the seizure, in which a sheriff’s deputy complained about the man’s attitude and suggested “we take his money and, um, count it as a drug seizure.” The judge’s order said the case produced “overwhelming evidence” that the funds were clean.

45 Responses

You keep saying “not even convicted of a crime” but in many cases the owners are not even CHARGED with a crime.

Do a video search for Tennessee Highway Patrol forfeiture/seizures. They don’t even have reasonable suspicion–let alone probable cause–for the people they pull over. At best they might be guilty of speeding. Usually they are guilty of having out-of-state plates.
[Incidentally, this could be seen as infringing on our right to interstate travel without interference from the states.]

This practice of asset forfeiture/seizure by any level of government in the US, be it federal or state level, is not in accordance with the 4th and 5th Amendments of the Constitution, and is thus a violation of the Constitution.

4th:
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

5th:

“No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”

Even then, Congress is specifically prohibited in the Constitution itself, in Article 1, Section 9, paragraph 3, from passing bills of attainder, which says, “No bill of attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.” A Bill of Attainder is the declaration by a legislature of the guiltiness a person of some crime and punishing them without a trial in a court of law, AKA due process. If the feds and all states (Article 1, Section 10) are expressively forbidden from passing bills of attainers, charging and punishing those who are not charged and convicted of a crime in and by a court of law, then where does the fed. government get off on thinking it can seize someone’s assets without charging and convicting that individual of a crime in a court of law?

I had nearly 3000 ounces of gold and 56000 ounces of silver stolen from me by the USDA in Orlando in February of 2009. To date there has been shotty allegations however no conviction behind an allegation to indict. The government even begged me for months to avoid civil proceedings so they could try and resolve the criminal investigation without legal processes. Yes you heard me right. AS soon as Discovery begins for the civil case, the government stays the civil to continue their criminal investigation which I have done for them 2 times already showing my innocence.
Whoever the idiot that thinks there is still a justice system or a constitution you need your head checked…

[…] of asset forfeiture has divided people for some time. On one side of the debate we have people like this American blogger, who think that asset forfeiture is akin to theft. In fact, he calls it “the second most […]

[…] Also keep in mind that the Drug War is the main excuse politicians given when they impose bad asset forfeiture laws and costly anti-money laundering laws. And it’s the Drug War that is usually the motive when […]

My father and I or partner in several rentals properties. I have a vending business on the side,which consists of venting or renting the slot machines for amusement purpose. The state of Tx issues permits so does the county and city which these machines are being used. The crime was committed when one of our location that my dad had rented to a tenant to operate as a “game room” which I and two other vendors went in together to vent to the tenant. The tenant employee broke the law for paying out cash on the winning from the machine instead of a valchour for replay. It is illegal to gamble in the state of texas. Game rooms in texas are nothing new, they are everywhere. There are a dozens down the high way where I am currently living and probably thousands in the city of Houston Texas. Our case was that we profit from an illegal proceed which arrise from illegal gambling that took place at one of our rental property. So the brazoria county sheriff raid all of businesses homes any properties related to us and arrested me, my wife,my parents, my sister and her boyfriend and the tenat and her employee that broken the law. The sheriff stole all of our cash, jewelry, coin collections, pictures, thread mills, broken my 5 yr old niece college funds piggy bank and took cash. Anything that of value they took. Tv’s, vehicles, all that was left at our residents was the refrigerator and ours clothes. They also seek to forfeit all of our properties we own. This was done on every property that me and my dad own including all of our homes. All this arise from one employee of a tenant that pay out cash on a winning at a property that my dad and I own. They have painted a picture of all of us as if we were the drug cartel or something of that nature to justify to the public of what they are doing to all of us. None of my family members ever been in trouble with the law for them to do this to all of us. This was a robbery done by the people that was supposed to serve and protect.This has been a nightmare for me and my family. This county is run by crooked people that uses blackmail systems. They pull all of us in to use as bargaining chips to trade off for going to jail or give them all of what they seek to forfeit. The shariff department would get 70% of the forfeiture and the DA or prosecutor gets 30% of the forfeiture.
I and my family would like others to know our story. As an immigrant that came here with nothing in hope of achieving the American dream. My parents worked hard many years and long hours to help pass on what we have and only to be taken away by a crooked over zealous cops that see nothing else but cash and properties that they can use to buy new toys and pay bonuses for their department.

I would like to get contact with some professionals outside Sweden.
Have had the bad luck of being target over a long period of time for advanced theft of private property money and destroyed business and life.

They with intention destroyed all cars, two murder attempts, stole bank Documents for over 70 000USD and so ön They lie they pretend they havet reoresentatives speaking för me , they have stolen innovations worth more than 100 000 000USD.

They destroy all technical try to Control all I need Internarional help.It s. URGENT.

My address to whats left a house in Dalarna Village. Almo Akviksvägen 235, AlmiAlviksvägen 235 there two very small houses on both sides of hour house in Leksand Siljansnäs (the County).Postal code 79395, dont call they make telephone calls go astray They criminals to be convicted in Interantional for Terrorism Advanced Financial Theft and activity towards me.
Monica Ingegerd Andrea Larsson
National Insurance. No 19610610-6922
Born in Västmanland, once living in Virsbo.Gothenburg, Stockholm, Uppsala, London.

[…] So one can only imagine how Jefferson, Madison, Mason, et al, must be rolling in their graves as they contemplate the disgusting practice of civil asset forfeiture, which basically allows agents of the government in the modern era to steal property from people who have not been convicted of any crime. I’m not joking. […]

[…] So one can only imagine how Jefferson, Madison, Mason, et al, must be rolling in their graves as they contemplate the disgusting practice of civil asset forfeiture, which basically allows agents of the government in the modern era to steal property from people who have not been convicted of any crime. I’m not joking. […]